♥♥
+ Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year
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| Star John David Washington split in half, upside down, askew, on the coolly restrained poster for Christopher Nolan's Tenet |
An unidentified spy gets recruited to a case that involves finding out the truth of ammunition and other objects that are seemingly inverted, sent from the future, moving backwards in time, a revolution that could be the end of the world.
Tenet is written and directed by British master filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), whose 11th film it is. Hyped as the film to resurrect the cinematic experience on the (hopefully) breaking point of the China virus pandemic, Tenet is as hyped as any in the filmmaker's illustrious career, and cinephiles everywhere are bursting with excitement to embrace it. Praise from many others should be seen in this light, as the well-meant wish to be patriotic to films more than the sober assessment of the work as it is.
Because Tenet is Nolan's poorest film since his tiny mystery B/W debut Following.
It opens with an elaborate philharmonic concert terrorist attack scene that we seemingly deliberately don't get to comprehend really, before we are flung on to what is the film's real deal: The time inversion objects and their consequences. An early dialog scene between John David Washington's (All Rise (2018)) protagonist hero, ominously only named 'Protagonist', and a scientist introducing him to inverted ammunition has her advising him; "Don't try to understand it. Just feel it." That feels like direct directorial advice from Nolan to us the audience, already disoriented from the opening action set-piece.
As a well-schooled movie-lover you will be trained to want to follow the film's direction, especially when it comes from one of the world's greatest living filmmakers, but the premise of just 'feeling' Tenet isn't possible, or perhaps just doesn't result in the right reward:
The film is overly stuffed with exposition throughout its lengthy running time, and most of it is hard to understand if not completely incomprehensible for those who are not physicists or cold-blooded nerds. Tenet is as cerebral and mumbo-jumbo as they come.
On top of that, the action is strange to behold, as one character fights another, who is moving backwards in time (or something), a bit like watching the violence occur underwater. It doesn't register as exciting, but you wonder for a moment how it was all accomplished and the no doubt monumental effort involved in getting it from page to screen. For a spy action thriller the way they are supposed to thrill and excite, try watching the last two or three Mission: Impossible movies instead. Tenet also got me to really look forward to the coming Bond movie even more, which should be big-budget action that's understandable. But don't take this as a recommendation of the film at hand.
Washington is handsome if bland as Protagonist, not a character that will go down in the books as one of the memorable ones, to put it mildly, and Robert Pattinson (Queen of the Desert (2015)) is equally handsome. Elizabeth Debicki (7 from Etheria (2017)) is sexy and good as the woman-in-peril, but only Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again (1991)) makes a real dent acting-wise as the film's stern and vicious villain Andrei Sator. Ludwig Göransson's (Creed II (2018)) score mimicks the iconic Hans Zimmer scores we have come to expect in Nolan's films, (Zimmer was unavailable this time), and it goes well with the many locations and big mechanical wonders in motion in grand images in Tenet, which are impressive to behold. Shame the film is perfectly incomprehensible.
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Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie
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Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in opulent, exciting epic
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The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
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Inception (2010) - Nolan's best is a grand piece of action sci-fi, perfectly awesome nonsense
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman
Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman
Memento (2000) - Nolan's overrated amnesia mindfuck
Following (1998) - Nolan's ineffectual debut
Cost: 200-225 mil. $
Box office: 53.6 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Tenet premiered 22 August (Australia) and runs 150 minutes. Nolan claims to have developed the idea for the film for 20 years and spent 6-7 writing the script. Shooting took place in Tallinn, Estonia, Italy, Mumbai, India, Denmark, Oslo, Norway, London, the UK and California, including Los Angeles, from May - November 2019. The release has been delayed 3 times due to the China virus pandemic. The film opened to 53 mil. $ from 41 markets, not including several major markets still closed down. It opens in a handful of markets, including the US, Russia and China, on Sep. 3, with more following later in September and in October. Nolan reportedly has a 20 % gross deal, meaning that he has already made 10.72 mil. $ from the film and could make a much bigger fortune, if the film reaches the enormous gross needed for it to become successful. Nolan does not have an announced next feature yet. Washington returns in Born to Be Murdered (2021). Tenet is fresh at 78 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Tenet?
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